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Amazon Dash Button

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Re: Amazon Dash Button

#341

Post by VLM »

gravity13 wrote: post #297
mikeash wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use their app instead of their web site, and you order it often, it'll be way faster. Of course, if you don't carry your phone with you then that's not going to work, but it seems like putting your phone in your pocket is a better solution than a specialized single-purpose button widget.

Yes. This is truly great design thinking. But wait, how do you handle nudists?

I'm trying to make a haiku something like this:

Out of clean clothes today,

Also laundry detergent,

Imagine surprise face on UPS man when I open door.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#343

Post by mikeash »

skorgu wrote: post #330
mikeash wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't go to the store to buy detergent. You go to the store to buy a whole bundle of items, and you go regardless of whether or not you need detergent. 10 seconds is IMO a decent approximation of the marginal cost of time for adding detergent to the stuff you buy. As for the big gain being that it's right there, I figured everybody's phones are right there too. Apparently not everybody does that. Seems like if yo…

10 seconds is the marginal cost /if you're going to the store/. It's entirely possible to make zero regular trips to the store under normal conditions. I'd use the heck out of a "cause more cat litter to arrive in a day or so" button, in fact I have a bookmark on my laptop for just this use. Mobile apps are (imo) universally horrible for this kind of directed action.

My question/complaint is basically: rather than put all this effort behind a single-purpose button, why not work on reducing the friction for using a mobile app for the same purpose? There's no reason you couldn't have, say, a button on your phone's home screen where pushing it causes cat litter to arrive. This would be about as convenient, and way more flexible.

Edit: and the answer is pretty clear, I think. If people actually go for this, it'll be a massive advantage for Amazon. It essentially banishes competition permanently for people who use the button regularly. It'll also make people much less price sensitive. So I completely understand why Amazon would try to push this. I just don't understand why anyone else finds it interesting besides that.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#344

Post by skorgu »

afandian wrote: post #40
hackaflocka wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Dash to order new batteries when they run out. Simple.

Seriously, if a button can order new coffee, it can let Amazon know that it's running low automatically.

I'd bet you'd just get a whole new button in the mail when the battery is close to dying.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#346

Post by GlickWick »

moe wrote: post #4

This looks a little too elaborate for an April 1st joke, but they can't possibly serious? I mean, who will scatter these "buttons" all over their house, which will inevitably need new batteries at ever shorter and diverging intervals...

Presumably these buttons would be free anyways, since they generate tons of revenue if they do what Amazon thinks they'll do.

In the end though, the buttons are really just an advertisement for the real product: the API.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#347

Post by nthj »

mikeash wrote: post #211
kristofferR wrote: post #144

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

I think it's ridiculous just because it clearly involved a lot of effort to solve a problem that doesn't really need solving. The choice isn't between a button and the massive hassle you describe. The choice is between a button and ordering the product on your smartphone in ten seconds, or picking up the product at the grocery store the next time you're there. How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks?…

It's not about saving time, it's about avoiding context switches. Also I'm really bad at remembering that I'm out of something even 5 seconds later, much less when I'm at the store racking my brain for what I'm running low on.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#348

Post by [deleted] »

thearn4 wrote: post #208
famousactress wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how open they are (they do say open to hobbyists). I'd really like to whip up a RaspberryPi box with buttons for things I actually reorder (instead of depending on particular brand partnerships).

I'd be interested in that too, just to have a simple stock wifi-enabled button that is easy to configure for a general API endpoint.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#349

Post by gus_massa »

scott_s wrote: post #265
mikeash wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's ridiculous just because it clearly involved a lot of effort to solve a problem that doesn't really need solving. The choice isn't between a button and the massive hassle you describe. The choice is between a button and ordering the product on your smartphone in ten seconds, or picking up the product at the grocery store the next time you're there. How often do you need laundry detergent? Every two weeks?…

This button isn't about saving time, it's about preventing the instances of not having something when you need it. The moment when you realize you need more of something is typically when you're using it. If you can literally just hit a button to order more, that's a significant change from having to do something else to order more.

My problem is with some items that I buy only twice a month, like bath soap or mayonnaise. I notice that it's about get empty (or it's already empty :() and I put them in my mental to-buy list. If I'm lucky I'll remember them the next time that I go to the supermarket. And probably also the following time and a few more times until I realize that I got a lot of it and I remove the item from the list. So I don't have to buy them for a few weeks...

I really like that it ignores the repeated pushes.

> Unless you elect otherwise, Dash Button responds only to your first press until your order is delivered.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#350

Post by samspot »

This is really cool! But for price-conscious consumers like me (I'm cheap) it may not be an option. I'm sure this is going to cost more than if I just buy whatever is on sale at the grocery store. However, if this becomes ubiquitous, it may mean the product is even cheaper than it is at the store.
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